Design and Electromagnetic Properties of a Conformal Ultra Wideband Antenna Integrated in Three-Dimensional Woven Fabrics.

Wearable antennas play an important role in transmitting signals wirelessly in body-worn systems, helping body-worn applications to achieve real-time monitoring and improving the working efficiency as well as the life quality of the users. Over conventional antenna types, ultra wideband (UWB) antennas have advantages of very large operating bandwidth, low power consumption, and high data transmission speed, therefore, they become of great interest for body-worn applications. One of the strategies for making the antenna comfortable to wear is replacing the conventional rigid printed circuit board with textile materials in the manufacturing process. In this study, a novel three-dimensional woven fabric integrated UWB antenna was proposed and fabricated with pure textile materials. The antenna electromagnetic properties were simulated and measured and its properties under bending were investigated. The antenna operated in a wide bandwidth from 2.7 to 13 GHz with the proper radiation pattern and gain value. At the same time, the antenna performance under bending varied in a reasonable range indicating that the antenna is prospectively applied on the curved surfaces of the human body. Additionally, the current distribution of the antenna showed that different conductive parts had different current densities indicating the uniqueness of the three-dimensional textile-based antenna.

Inhibition of the beta-catenin signaling pathway in blastocyst and uterus during the window of implantation in mice.

Beta-catenin, the mammalian homolog of Drosophila armadillo protein, was first identified as a cadherin-associated protein at cell-cell junctions. Another function of beta-catenin is the transduction of cytosolic signals to the nucleus in a variety of cellular contexts, which usually are elicited by the active form of beta-catenin. The aim of the present study was to examine the potential role of active beta-catenin in the mouse embryo and uterus during embryo implantation. Active beta-catenin was detected differentially in mouse embryos and uteri during the peri-implantation period. Aberrant activation of beta-catenin by LiCl, a well-known glycogen synthase kinase-3 inhibitor, significantly inhibited blastocyst hatching and subsequent adhesion and outgrowth on fibronectin. Results obtained from pseudopregnant and implantation-delayed mice imply an important role for implanting blastocysts in the temporal and spatial changes of active beta-catenin in the uterus during the window of implantation. Collectively, these results suggest that the beta-catenin signaling pathway is inhibited in both blastocyst and uterus during the window of implantation, which may represent a new mechanism to synchronize the development of preimplantation embryos and differentiation of the uterus during this process.